The role of mobile electronic devices in radiographer education.

BACKGROUND

Students commonly use mobile electronic devices (MEDs) for everyday activities such as e-mailing, texting, talking and playing. Students' familiarity with these devices may make it beneficial for educators to use MEDs to enhance classroom teaching and clinical learning.

METHODS

This literature review examines the use of MEDs in radiography educational programs.

RESULTS

Various potential uses for MEDs are discussed, such as clinical logs, archiving data, accessing reference material and evaluation tools and providing course materials. The author also addresses factors for selecting an MED, advantages and disadvantages of MEDs, their limitations and suggestions for future research.

CONCLUSION

Research suggests that there are several areas in the classroom and clinical situations where MEDs could benefit students and faculty. In particular, MEDs may improve efficiency in data collection and clinical evaluation and prove valuable as an information delivery tool.